Indicating means.



F. B'. CARLISLE.

lNDlCATING MEANS.

IGATIDN 8 mama Apr. 27, 1915.

ATTORNEYS 'Uinrnn saires rgrnnr onirica.

rara) is. CARLISLE, or Mannen, nessacnusnrrs, Assieme ro animan ummm.

. COMPANY, a eonroaerion or airone IsLANn.

inmca'rine MEANS. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

' Application filed February 2S, 1912. Serial N o. 680,510.

T all whfm, it may cencem Be it known that I, FRED B. CARLisLn, a

v citizen of the' United States, and resident of Malden, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in indicating Means, of which the following is a specification.

'My invention relates to indicating means ,7; l.andcontemplates providing. a vehicle tire, ".V

aineans suclr as for instance an automobile tire, with Y for indicating the extent of the use to whichfhe' tire has been subjected or in other words the distance it has traversed.

. invention will befully described'hereinafter,l and the features of (novelty will be poi ted out'in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings 'in which I have shown one embodiment of my invention and in.whichvFigure 1 yis a cross-section of a part of a tire in position on the usual rim and having lng invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a e elevation of a part of the tire; Fig. 3

a" longitudinal section of the form of my improvement illustratedherein and Fig. Il is a; pers ective view of an elementv thereof.

i guide l'In t e'drawings. 5 is the felly of the wheel to outer peripheral surface of which the usual tire carrying rim 6 is attached in any suitable and convenient manner. 4This rim 6 yided with the customary circumferential hooks 7 forl receiving the beads 8 of the ti eshoe 9 .'nclosing the usual inner tube 10 which 'is inflated in the well known way.'

the form which l have chosen to illust'rate my'` invention the indicating means comprises a tube 11 made of metal or`any other -suitable materialv and having its one endv closed as illustrated at 12 and its other end open and internally screw threaded as shown at 13. This open screw-threaded end threaded plug 14 preferably made of gatta percha or some other material which at all times 'has a substantially uniform density. A boring means having a head 15 to which is secured a boring bit 16 is lo'catedfin said tube 11y `v and is freely movable lengthwise thereof, said head 15 preferably having a runnin fit in said tube so as to act as a or'thebit 16. The bit 16 is preferably positioned on said head so as to register with .the longitudinalaxis of the tube and projects'toward` the plug 14 when the parts are' assembled. 'An limpact device, inthe is movable between the head 15 of the boring means and the closed end 12 of the tube when the parts are in their assembled condition. In its operative position the present indicating means is carried by the tire and is preferably located in some convenient part ofthe tire shoe so as to be invisible in the finished shoe and with its longitudinal axis extending in the direction of the circumference of the tire or in other words the direction of the rotation when the shoe is in position on a vehicle wheel the end 13 and plug 14e being preferably though not necessarily toward the front. The preferred location of the indicating means as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings is in one of the beads 8 of the Atire shoe, in close prox- 4imity'to the inner surface thereof so that gravity so that said ball or impact device 17 will be caused to move back and forth in the e vehicle wheel revolves. the ball or impact device 17 will be alternately lifted against gravity and dropped by sol space between the head 15 and closed end 12 l of the tube 11. The said ball 17 each time it is dropped by gravity will thus impact' against said head 15 and will deliver a blow thereon at least once during each complete revolution of the wheel and will consequently drive the boring bit 16 into the plug 14. As the wheel continues to revolve each succeeding 15 will drive the bit 16 a little farther into the plug 141 so that tions orl inother hwords'ffor the tire to blow of the ball 17 on the head i it is necessary for the .wheel to make a certain number of rev,olu

traverse a certain number of miles before the bit 16 is finally forced completely through said plug 111. Thus byvcalculations and experiment the length 'of -the plug 14 may be determined so that it will be necessary for the tire to have made a suicient number of revolutions to coverthe distance'.

for whichlit 'is guaranteed the boring bit will have completely penetrated the gadjli v lplug. rlhus if the tire is guaranteed for instance for 3500 miles, the plug Will be punctured only after ap roximately 3500 miles have been traversed3 by the tire and said plug will be bored into for only a proportionate part of its length if less than this distance has been traveled.

If the tire is returned in a Worn condition to the manufacturer and the argument advanced that it has not lived up to its' guarantee or in other words has reached its damaged or Worn condition after say only 1500 miles, or any other number less than the guaranteed. mileage have been covered the truth or falsity of the statement may be ascertained by simply inspecting the indicating means. If the said means is concealed in some portion of the tire as in the present instance, the bead of the tire, the said bead is slitted or cut at the point Where the in-v dicating means is located which is readily possible owing to the thinness of the material at this point and the indicating means then removed. After having been thus removed the plug 14 may be easily unscrewed from the tube '1l and inspected.v It the boring bit has only partly penetrated into said plug 14 and the depth .of the bore relatively to the length of the plug after 'being computed, which may readily be done by means of a suitable instrument, is found to correspond substantially to the depth of bore which would be made in the plug by the boring bit after 150() miles has been traveled then it is at once evident that the. contention is correct and that the tire has not lived up to its guarantee. If on the contrary it is -found on inspection that the said plug has been completely penetrated by the boring bit then it is'at once apparent that the tire hasl traveled over the maximum number of miles for which it is guaranteed and that the statement that less than this mileage has been traversed is not correct. The tire manufacturer is thus protected against imposition by unscrupulous persons, it being understoodv that the above examination and inspection should preferably be made out of the presence of the person returning the tire shoe so that the existence of the indicating means will remain unknown to him.

In order to make it easy for the manu- ;facturer to easily 4find the point of the tire shoe lWhere the indicating means is located,

any sort of indicating mark may be used, or

said 'indicatingmeansmay' be located at a point registerlng vWith a certain letter or letters of the manufacturers name or trade mark Which usually are produced on said tire shoe,l this particular letter or said letters thus becoming the locating mark. These indicating marks w11l of course remain un.-` known to the eneral publ-ic.

A It will readi y bev seenfthat my improvement provides a. siirple and reliable means gous devices.

for checking up the approximate nmber of rotations the tire shoev has made or' in other Words the number of miles of roads over which it has traveled. T hat is to say, the plug 14 is what might be termed a record receiving means While the boring bit represents `a record producing means coperatinf therewith to record the extent of use to which the tire has been subjected. 'When in operative position in `the present ilhistiation vof .the invention the said means is absolutely'protected against tampering as its existence is not apparent and does not change the appearance of the tire shoe. Shou-ldthe location of the indicating means, however, becomeknovvnend said means be tampered With, this fact would at once be apparent to the manufacturer owing to the fact that the tire'must be cut to remove the said means and make it accessible. would still beso even if the cut were repaired or closed by vulcanization as the evidences vof the vulcanization process would always be present.

It' is to be understood 'that the indicating means need not be embedded in the tire but may be located eXteriorl thereof at a convenient point andthe p ug 14 for instance sealed therein against removal Without detection. It is further to be understood that in some cases the metal tube 11 may be dispensed with and a tubularrecess produced in the tire for the accommodation of the plug l4,bori'ng bit 16 and ball 17 or analo- In this case these elements would be incorporated in the tire during its manufacture.

Vhile I have described my improvement in` connection Witha pneumatic tire it is to be understood that the said improvement with any other form of tire.

Various changes lin the specific form shown and described may be made Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

l. The combination of a vehicle tire and means carried thereby for indicating the extent ofuse to which the tire has been subjected, said means comprising an element held in positionin relation to said tire by friction, and means for overcoming said friction to progressively change the position thereof,` in accordance With the extent of travel of said tire.

The combination of a vehicle tire and means carried thereby for indicating the eX- -tent of use to which' the tire has been subjected, said means comprising a resistive medium, an element adapted to penetrate the same, and means'for causing said element to penetrate'said medium in accordance Withthe extent of travel of 'said tire.

3. The combination oa vehicle tire and means carried thereby for indicating the ek This f .is equally Well adapted for use in connection y tent of use to which the tire has been subvjected, said means comprising tWo members held .frictionally in relative positions ,and a loose actuating member adapted to 'impact with one of said members by movement of the tire and to change their relative positions in aceordance with the extent of travel of thetirm 4. The combination of a vehicle Wheel, a tire therefor, a tube carried by said tire7 a plug extending into one end of said tube, a

boring bit adapted to bore into said plug to indicate the extent ofuse to which the tire has. been subjeeted'and means for delivering ablow to said bit during each revolution of the Wheel.

5. 4The Combination of a vehicle Wheel, a

to deliver a blow to said head duringeaehA y revolution of the Wheel.

In testimony whereof have `hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

vnenn :e CARLISLE.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. KEHLE'NBEGK, D. WECKRUDEM. 

